APTP Sacramento in the News
Photo of hi-vis police jackets (Maxim Hopman/Unsplash)
Alternatives to Police Involvement in Mental Health Crises
Sharon Bae and Robert T. Mueller, Ph.D | Psychology Today, January 12, 2022
“[APTP co-founder] Asantewaa Boykin, a trained psychiatric nurse and social activist, describes a situation that may not come as a surprise to many people today: 'There’s a whole list of people just in Sacramento who were killed by police while in the midst of a mental health crisis, dying in police custody because they needed help and ended up in a jail cell.’”
Black and white photo of a person with short hair sitting on a bench, their belongings piled next to them (Phil Serna)
Encounter someone in a mental health crisis? Here are non-police numbers to call in Sacramento
Theresa Clift | The Sacramento Bee, September 13, 2021
“Last year, the Anti-Police Terror Project launched a team of volunteers called Mental Health First Sacramento. […] ‘It’s about holding space for someone to share or talk about even if it sounds like kind of nonsense,’ [MH First volunteer Niki] Jones said. ‘So many folks are just not listened to, they’re walked by, overlooked and shown disdain on the streets because of their class status and so being kind is a huge mitigating factor.’”
‘We don’t need police, period.’ Who should handle mental health 911 calls in Sacramento?
Rosalio Ahumada | The Sacramento Bee, March 25, 2021
“‘This is just a clever way to continue funding police,’ said [APTP co-founder] Asantewaa Boykin, a registered nurse and a volunteer with Mental Health First Sacramento. ‘I don’t know what they’re doing, but it doesn’t sound like they’re sticking to their mission. ... We don’t need police, period. Specifically in those situations.’”
APTP co-founder Asantewaa Boykin & an MH First volunteer answer calls
Program to send mental health workers to non-violent emergencies stalls
Gurajpal Sangha | Fox40 Sacramento, February 24, 2021
“A pilot program that would send mental health workers to deal with non-violent emergency calls instead of law enforcement in Sacramento County will have to wait as officials need more information about costs.
“We want to be able to inform the model they are creating,” said Asantewaa Boykin, a program director with Mental Health First. “We operate over the weekend Friday, Saturday and Sunday overnight, which is the time we identify that has the least amount of services available for people.”
She and others are backing another way the county can address the response to mental health crises. “
APTP co-founder Asantewaa Boykin, wearing a surgical mask and a face shield, looks at the camera with eyes wide.
‘I don’t want to feel expendable’: California nurse reveals the racial disparities she’s witnessed on the Covid frontline
Danielle Zollner | The Independent, December 19, 2020
“About 40 per cent of California’s population is Latino, but they disproportionately make up nearly 50 per cent of Covid-19 deaths. Afterican-Americans account for 6.5 per cent of the state’s population, but they account for about 7.4 per cent of Covid-19 deaths.
[APTP co-founder Asantewaa] Boykin, who is Black, said it was imperative for healthcare systems to not only employ people who looked like the community they represent to address some of these disparities post-pandemic, but also to acknowledge the previous mistreatment minority communities have experienced.
“Make some cultural shifts, like hiring people that look like the community they serve, for God's sake,” she said, “so that when folks show up, there's another level of compassion … instead of this constant othering of patients that we do because they don’t look like us.”
Asantewaa Boykin, co-founder of APTP
The Mental Health First Team answering the mental health crisis calls | Everyday Heroes
John Bartell | ABC10, July 8, 2020
“The team’s mission is to offer the community another service to call other than law enforcement. If called, the team can respond in their mobile crisis unit, an RV full of food, medical supplies and care products. “
Five people on a video call, one of whom is Asantewaa Boykin, co-founder of APTP
VOICES: River City, Episode 68: Asantewaa Boykin of MH First and the Anti Police-Terror Project
VOICES: River City, June 26, 2020
Between 7 pm and 7 am on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays, Sacramentans can call MH First if they see someone experiencing a crisis that could benefit from their care. They have successfully responded to countless calls, caring for the people who need help, giving them food and water, and discussing options with them for how best to proceed with their own care.
A New York City street with an NYPD car in the foreground (Essence)
The Abolitionist Project: Building Alternatives To Policing
Tracey Ross | Essence, June 18, 2020
“One of the models APTP built was Mental Health First (MH First) in Sacramento. At least 1 in 4 people who are shot and killed by the police suffered from an acute mental illness at the time. MH First is a mobile mental health crisis response team that offers a non-punitive, patient-centered alternative.”
Left to right: Chayo Lavin, Carly Brannin, Morningstar Gali, Adam Willis, Asantewaa Boykin and Astin Williams with the Anti Police-Terror Project (Asantewaa Boykin)
What One Alternative to Policing Looks Like
Devin Katayama, Ericka Cruz Guevarra, and Alan Montecillo | KQED, June 17, 2020
“In January, the Sacramento chapter of the Anti Police-Terror Project started a program called “Mental Health First” to provide trauma-informed, community-based and peer-driven intervention to respond to people in crisis without the police.”
Erica Cuellar, a volunteer, is practicing CPR on Asantewaa Boykin, a registered nurse and founder of the MH first team (Sammy Caiola/CapRadio)
Should Police Be Responding To Mental Health Calls? This Group Says No, And Offers An Alternative
Sammy Caiola | CapRadio, June 16, 2020
“The M.H. First team launched in January as an effort of Anti Police-Terror Project Sacramento. The goal is to create a community response to people in mental health crisis, so law enforcement doesn’t show up and potentially escalate the situation, Boykin said.”
Asantewaa Boykin, co-founder of APTP (Los Angeles Times)
‘Defund the police’: What does it mean?
Los Angeles Times, June 13, 2020
“In Sacramento, Mental Health First, a part of the Anti Police-Terror Project, provides support and de-escalation assistance for people experiencing a mental health crisis. ‘We have to be peer-run and peer-led because no one can inform us on how to best deal with someone in crisis than someone who has been in crisis. We show compassion because really, for me personally, safety is more about – especially in this context – is about being heard and being listened to.’'' [– Asantewaa Boykin, APTP Co-Founder]